Dr. Bernard Eichold, Health Officer for the Mobile County Health Department, is commending the area's law enforcement community including the Mobile Police Department and MPD Chief James Barber, the Mobile County Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Sam Cochran, Jason Capstraw, resident agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Mobile, as well as members of Alabama Beverage Control and others for aggressively removing the poisonous substance known as spice from local streets.

In recent weeks, hundreds of prepackaged bags containing dangerous chemicals labeled as spice and K2, among other names, have been confiscated locally on their way to market. Children as young as 13 have sought help from hospital emergency rooms after taking the chemical concoctions. A 60-year-old man died in the hospital in April from complications related to Spice, health officials said.

"Taking drugs off the streets makes our children and families safer," Eichold said. "We hope the large seizures will continue to have a positive impact on the health of our community."

A look at the number of people seen for drug-related visits to Mobile hospital emergency rooms during a 13-day period in April and during the first 13 days of May suggest beefed up enforcement efforts may be paying off. Between April 11 and April 23, 2014, Mobile hospitals reported 52 drug-related ER visits. One of those ER visits resulted in the death of a 60-year-old man who had taken spice, health officials said.

A snapshot of drug-related ER visits taken between May 1 and May 13 showed that at least 44 people were treated at Mobile hospitals for issues related to illicit drugs. The ages of the patients ranged from 14 to 58 in May, according to information provided by the hospitals.